My D800 arrived today. I checked to see if it would fit into my Seacam D700 housing. After I removed a few of the controls from one of my D700 housings, the D800 camera did fit into the housing. Some of remaining controls did not work, or did not work well, and would also need to be modified. The result of my measurements and trial fit is I think that with control modifications, some simple & some quite intricate, the D800 could be made to fit and work reasonably well in the Seacam D700 housing.

I would guesstimate that if 10-12 Seacam owners wanted to do this, a "self-install modification kit" could be produced in the price range of about $1500. Expensive, yes, but considerably less expensive than a completely new Seacam housing that would probably cost in the $5000 ball park. The modified housing might have one or two controls less than a new Seacam housing, particularly for video. But it might also have one or two that the as yet non-existing D800 might not have. And the savings would be considerable.

With the D4 & D800, plus Adobe Lightroom 4 and now a beta, meaning Photoshop CS 6 is imminent, this has been a great spring for many of us. Of course, all these new higher tech toys may also mean that we will also need new Apple computers and more hard drive storage.

Ran a series to compare the D700 and D800 at ISO 800 to 6400. The D800 I think is at least as good as the D700, maybe slightly better. At 3200 and 6400 the D800 noise is crisper and holds more detail. Here's the image with the D800 at 200ISO All images imported as RAW NEF directly into Aperture, no adjustments. All shot at f8 with Nikkor 24-70 at 24mm

Just a closer crop of 6400 ISO, D800 first then D700I also just noticed that I had high ISO NR on normal on the D800 and on high on the D700. Might account for the crisper more film grain type look on the D800. But I'm not doing this again. I'm satisfied that I can shoot this camera pretty easily like the D700 underwater ISO 800-1200

A couple today at the New Smyrna Beach airshow; so this is what it's like to shoot action with a medium format. Nikon 70-200 with 2x TC @ 400mm 1/1000 sec f8 ISO 200 Probably can't see it on this screen but the rivets are sharp.

and a 100% crop

And then what would a redneck airshow be without a jet propelled port-o-let

Jeff - have you tried the D800 in your Subal D700 housing? Just wondering if it physically fits and what buttons need to be modified / lose functionality.

It goes into the housing, but clearly many mods need to be made starting probably with a new tray. I did not try too hard. There are a few things off the bat that will be different, or missing. Live view and video, autofocus control (now the same as the D7000), 4 function buttons top left instead of 3, and I think the lens axis is different. It would seem like a bit of a waste to to me to use this camera without all of the functionality of video etc. Might as well just stick with the D700 which is perfectly fine if one wants to use the housing I think. I am hoping any new housing for this camera, Subal or otherwise, adds new technologies like optical strobe, good access to the HDMI and USB outputs etc. I want to be able to take advantage of all it's features and use it tethered as well.

It goes into the housing, but clearly many mods need to be made starting probably with a new tray.

And the problem of a new (thinner) tray is that the camera would be lower in the housing and the lens no longer centred in the port. Although someone with more engineering skill than me (not difficult) and some time might well be able to develop a Subal kit.

My D800 is ordered and expected to come in this friday! Now just wait for an UW housing. Hugyfot claims that it'll be available from early may and my UW housing supplier told me that Nauticam is going to ship their first housings mid April. Unfortunately both too late for our Galapagos trip, but at least i can use it topside and shoot turtlez!